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• Permit .Area <br />Water quality sampling programs have been conducted in and around the mine area since <br />1974 by various teams of investigators. The BIM EMRIA program set up sampling stations <br />on Taylor, Wilson and Goodspring Creeks to collect continuous data for a great number of <br />quality constituents. Colowyo and its consultants have sampled these same stations as well as <br />a separate series of stations from 1974 to present. All of these stations are located on Map 32 <br />and a table of the site numbers and descriptions is presented earlier in the discussion <br />Occurrence of Surface Water, Table 6. <br />Surface water in the area can be characterized as extremely hard containing an abundance of <br />dissolved solids and variable levels of other constituents. Data collected by Colowyo in 1974 <br />and 1975 showed that total hardness exceeded 300 mg/1 as CaC03 for all samples. Positively <br />charged cations were predominately calcium and magnesium with sodium present in lesser <br />quantities. Potassium was present only in very low quantities and heavy metals were nearly <br />absent. Negatively charged anions were comprised primarily of bicarbonate and sulfate. <br />Chloride was present in low levels. Fluoride, carbonate, nitrate and silica were present in <br />very low levels or were nearly absent. <br />The data for the period 1974-1975 collected by Colowyo for the major ion concentrations, <br />turbidity, dissolved solids, iron, and pH for the seven sampling locations along Wilson Creek, <br />Taylor Creek and Goodspring Creek are presented in Tables 16, 17 and 18. For all <br />constituents except chloride, the concentrations varied only slightly among the stations <br />. during any one month. Also concentrations above and below the mine were not appreciably <br />different. However, the Wilson Creek stations consistently showed chloride concentrations <br />five to ten times higher than other stations. Chloride is usually absent in groundwater seepage <br />but can be present in high concentrations in mineral springs. Since such springs have not <br />been reported along Wilson Creek, some other source may be causing these high levels. <br />Since the geology oftha <br /> <br />2.04.7-56 <br />